The object of the present invention is to create rescue and safety devices which not only enable first aid to be given directly on the device but also, in open water, to enable a victim situated under the device to pass through the device, to come up and remain on top and, in a swimming pool, to be able to easily clean the bottom while walking on the device. This applies to Olympic pools, private swimming pools, lakes or open water, these devices supporting the weight of numerous persons moving about on the device.
The technical background discloses many submersible or non submersible covers or bottoms variable in steps, whose main function is not the rescue of persons in trouble. These devices are not reliable, notably in the case of submersible covers, as they are not sufficiently strong to support the weight of many persons and are moreover slow in their movement.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,905 of Dec. 19, 1978 has proposed to build a rescue device which is a net supported by an inflatable bladder of small size.
This device has the following drawbacks:
The arms and its periphery supporting the net has a diameter of 7.62 cm, the central bladder a diameter of 60 cm, the length of the pool is 6 m, the design features are not met for supporting the weight of the net and of a person. The bladder diameter of 60 cm is smaller than a conventional buoy.
The essential deficiency is that there is nothing to fix the device in a raised position.
Only two guide bars are provided at the deepest part of the pool with the sole purpose of guiding the flotation. According to the description by the inventor, guide bars are not necessary in the shallow part of the pool, which constitutes a real danger. Given the weakness of the device, if someone were recovered and brought up to the surface in the deepest part of the pool, the device would be drawn together on itself.
As is moreover acknowledged by the author, in order to ensure safety, the device must be covered with a tarpaulin when the pool is not being used, line 67 to 70, columns 2 and 3.
Patent application DE 32 10590 A1, 23.03.82 mentions a device for use in open water which has the following drawbacks:
The cells of the device are provided at certain places with empty spaces of 40 to 70 cm width which have been created to enable a person to pass through. This arrangement is dangerous in a rough sea, because a weakened person or child tossed about by the sea would be liable to pass under the device and be lost.
The structure of the air chambers of the floats has a diameter of 5 to 10 cm, commercially available individual life-buoys for bathing generally having a larger diameter and being intended for a calm sea.
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a rescue and safety device which is able to meet these deficiencies and drawbacks.
The advantages of the present invention reside in the fact that the openings in the netting are intended to enable cleaning the bottom of a swimming pool, it being easy in this case to reach the centre of the swimming pool by walking on the device to insert the arm of the vacuum cleaner and that, in the case of open water, the openings in the netting are intended to enable someone caught underneath the device to return to the surface by unlocking and widening the openings in the netting. The locking system prevents someone from sliding with ones weight into the slit. These openings with their locking system should be made visible by means of bright or fluorescent colours to indicate their presence.
Another advantage is that the device in swimming pools, lakes as well as a beach portion for example, comprises a system of guide rails with stops, which blocks the system in the high position, these stops balance the tension when several persons move about on the device. These stops also function to prevent the device from folding up under load, which prevents the device from forming a hollow between the edge of the swimming pool and the grille and prevents a child from slipping through between the device and the edge of the swimming pool.
The sheet, tarpaulin or the materials used to manufacture the grille may be woven or nonwoven synthetic or elastomer materials, but should be as light as possible and nevertheless be heavy enough for the deflated grille to sink down through its own weight, and to provide technical safeguards with regard to wear, tear, friction, pressure.
To this end, a person skilled in the art should know the maximum load which the device will have to support, taking into account the impact of weights projected onto the device, jumping, running, tension, pressure, friction to which the device is subjected, in order to be able to determine the diameter of the crosspieces of the grille, on which one should be able to walk easily, run, jump and play, and that with respect to the size of the openings, the dimension, number and strength of the slide rails and the stops, the criteria of strength of the netting, adapted in each case to the size of the water surface, Olympic pool or private swimming pool, with respect to the maximum load.
Another safety aspect has been allowed for due to the fact that the deflated grille placed at or near the bottom is connected to a vacuum pump in operating condition, connected to an alarm, whose purpose is to draw attention immediately to an infiltration of water into the device. This vacuum pump may also be used to help in deflating the grille.